i'm sure we'll be talking about it tomorrow. the news will be big. >> carolyn murphy staying for after the show show. which means i'm leaving. bill: there he goes again. morning everybody. want to start with fox news alert. there is new evidence the white house were told terrorists were likely behind the attack in benghazi while the compound was still in flames. e-mails obtained by fox news show the state department alerted staffers at the white house, the pentagon and the state department that an al qaeda linked group was taking responsibility for the assault. there is a lot more in those transmissions as well. we'll show those to you in a moment. i'm bill hemmer. welcome to "america's newsroom." good morning, martha. martha: good morning. i'm martha maccallum. these e-mails are raising questions why the administration repeated i claimed it was the result of a spontaneous protest. we're told, 400, look at all

the national security personnel who received the e-mails in realtime. first one sent out 4:00 p.m. eastern on set of the 11th. here is a quote from it. the regional security officer reports that the diplomatic mission is under attack. embassy tripoli reports approximately 20 armed people fired shots. explosions have been heard as well. ambassador steve who is currently in benghazi and four chief of mission personnel are in the come pound safe haven. the 1th of february militia is providing security support. bill: catherine herridge is in washington live with us. good morning to you. explain the significance of the e-mails we're now seeing. >> reporter: these new documents first on attend by fox appear to be the most significant we've seen to date on the libya scandal as e-mail traffic takes the real time information on the attack and of those suspected being responsible inside the white house situation room. this brings the national

security advisor tom donnell lynn, the director of the national intelligence, senior intelligence official, james clapper and security advisor john brennan on the loop as they are cleared on the traffic. donilon, brennan and david petraeuses have been noticeably absent on the white house assessment of benghazi. four career military professionals would be the obvious choice, not ambassador rice to address the attack on sunday talk shows. one e-mail said the group ansar al-sharia was behind the attack. they claimed responsibility on facebook and twitter and called for an attack on the embassy in tripoli. the national security council replied in testy e-mail is more of the same. e-mails about the attack in realtime did not amount to intelligence as cents, bill. bill: there is someone in custody. at least one person we know of what are we learning about this suspect, catherine? >> reporter: the ranking

member of the senate intelligence committee telling fox the suspect is in custody but significantly u.s. authorities are being denied access to this member of the group ansar al-sharia. >> we don't know very much about him because we have not been able to have access to him. that is one of the problems with the policy of this administration. the turks did take possession of him but they weren't prepared to let us have any access and didn't and now that they have turned him over to the tunisia i hope maybe eventually we will. but at this point in time we've not had access. >> reporter: the suspect is described to fox, tunisia ann by. he is described as a suspected participant and not a commander of this assault. again he is someone put at the scene based on his comments to a very close circle of contacts. bill: we're trying to piece all this together, catherine, terrific reporting as well as rest of our team in

washington. list cheney reacts to this in 10 minutes. thanks, catherine. martha: big, big, story. back on the election front. there are 13 days to go. it is truly a sprint to the finish at this point. president obama and governor romney working to visit as many swing states as they can. governor in colorado, ohio do. and then he will cross paths with president visiting iowa, colorado, california and navy as well. both will be in ohio which is huge focus of course. governor romney and the president hitting each other pretty hard on this battle ground brits. here is a piece of it. >> what you're seeing from the obama campaign is incredibly shrinking campaign. the president is out of ideas. he is out of excuses. in november you will make sure he is out of office. [cheers and applause] >> we know we're not where we need to be, not here, not anywhere but we've made real progress. we've got to build on that progress. we can't go back to what got

us into this mess. we need to move forward with what is getting us out of this mess and that is why i'm running for a second term as president of the united states. [applause] martha: we've chief white house correspondent ed henry is traveling with the president. the first stop is davenport, iowa. give us an idea what the strategy is. how do you pack it in in these final days. it is require to spend so much time to chris cross all the states in the rush to the finish. >> reporter: it is, martha. gives you white house is now playing defense. you've seen governor romney surging in some of the polls in the battlegrounds. this will be six battleground in two days. by far the most jam-packed schedule the president had this entire campaign. starts here in iowa. we'll go on to denver, colorado. the president make as quick pit stop in l.a., to do jay leno and "the tonight show." he will do a late-night rally in las vegas. katy perry among the celebrities who will be there, performing for the crowd, fire them up.

late evening event. the president will get on air force one and sleep on air force one from las vegas to tampa, in order to be in the battleground of florida tomorrow morning. he is on to richmond, virginia. will end in cleveland ohio. all is about getting out the vote. we know the president has gotten one key vote already. he himself will stop along the way here in chicago in his home and vote early, the first president ever to vote early. there is no surprise or suspense about that, but his vote is in the bag, martha. martha: gosh, the adrenaline has to be kicking in at this point to make it through that kind of schedule and be sparkling on late-night tv as well. how is he really framing. what is he trying to do to persuade the voters not in his camp at this point, ed? >> reporter: you're right. it is a grind at this point for all the candidates. bottom line we're seeing the president in more personal terms go after mitt romney. you heard this riff about "romnesia". he claims it is affliction when you keep flip-flopping on your positions.

yesterday went a little further. saying this is really matter of trust and personally questioning whether or not the american people can trust mitt romney. take a listen. >> in his speeches he is really excellent and lift listing all the things that are wrong. he can go over it verbatim it. just, boom, boom, boom. power point presentation. but, you know what? that's not leadership that you can trust. >> reporter: bottom line is a couple of weeks ago the obama camp was pretty confident things were working in their favor. yesterday talked to one of the president's most senior advisors, david plouffe, he said frankly we'll know in two weeks, one of us is right, one of is wrong. tells me the bravado is gone. they like the rest of us do not know how it will turn out. martha: getting first-hand look at all of us. adrenaline required for reporters as well in the final days. ed, see you soon. >>.

>> reporter: good to see you. martha: what each candidate is trying to do in the coming days. bill: there are new worries, there are new worries about the national debt and how fast it is growing. check out these numbers. national debt topped $16.2 trillion. it is growing at a rate of $4 billion every 24 hours. that's extraordinary. stuart varney, host of "varney & company" on the fox business network. what to do here? >> it is astonishing how fast we're piling up the debt. i went to check the debt clock and check the calendar for just one moment. back on september the 4th. that was the day we first crossed 16 trillion, september the 4th. fast forward to today, october 24th, we just crossed 16.2 trillion. that means in precisely 50 days our national debt has gone up precisely $200 billion. which is bill, precisely, $4

billion a day. go back to 2007, a couple years ago, it took a whole year to rack up $167 billion new debt, one year, one 67. now in seven weeks we rack up $200 billion. the pace of accumulation is astonishing, bill. bill: indeed it is. what happens in the future? do you get more rapid debt? do you continue to build up. we're looking 20 trillion, question of when? >> yes to all of the above. in the immediate future we'll continue to build debt as rapidly as we have in the last 50 days. the way to get out of this grow the economy, rapidly, 4, 5, 6%, growth over a long period of time. and cut spending. >> you don't do that you keep on accumulating. bill: yeah, we do. kicking off those numbers as it grows. 11 minutes in fnb. stuart varney here. martha: speaking of businesses wall street looking for a bit of a rebound today. futures are up this morning ahead of the opening bell

thanks in part that better than expected numbers came in from facebook and also from boeing. they're hoping that will bolster the dow. it closes down 230 points yesterday. that is the third biggest decline of the year. bill: that was a shocker, wasn't it? falloff on friday and again yesterday. hold on today. we're just getting started. much more on the e-mails detailing information the white house had as benghazi was in progress. liz cheney will react to that next. martha: and it is go-time in ohio, folks. take a look at this. they are voting for the presidential election 2012. voting has begun in ohio. we're live in battle ground buckeye. we'll be right back with more. >> we're about ready to harvest. once we identified people who voted, we identify those who are not likely to vote for president obama, our job, just before election, is to get out the vote. [ male announc] there are only so many foods that make kids happy.

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martha: former president bill clinton making some big endorsements as democrats are fighting to try to win back the house. also a big under current that is important in the coming weeks. mr. clinton at the university of california irvine yesterday threw his support behind five congressional candidates. the former commander-in-chief weighing in on president obama's performance monday night. >> i'm doing everything i can to try to help reelect the president and to try -- [cheers and applause] although after his performance last night in the debate i don't think he needs as much help. i thought he did great last night. [applause] martha: clinton earlier this month endorsed several other democrats in the northern part of the state. we'll be watching all those races as well. bill: that we shall, huh? back to one the top stories. fox news reporting the e-mails that show the white house knew the attack was happening in libya in realtime. liz cheney former member of the bush administration and

liz, good morning to you. >> hi, bill. bill: i want to go through through at least two of these e-mails that reflect on the white house reaction over the coming weeks after that. at 4:05 on the afternoon of september 11th the regional security officer reports that the diplomatic mission is under attack. embassy tripoli, reports approximately 20 armed people fired shots. explosions have been heard as well. ambassador stevens, who is currently in benghazi and four chief of mission personnel are in the compound safe haven, the 7th of february militia is providing security support. 4:05 the afternoon of 9/11. how do we view this now? >> right. i think first of all what we know that e-mail went into the white house situation room as catherine reported earlier. so we know that as early as 4:05 p.m. d.c. time the white house was aware this attack was underway. now we also know, because the president's asked --

schedule is public from the white house website, at 5:00 p.m., the president, white house and secretary of defense were in the oval val office. it is impossible tore knee to imagine they were not informed about these e-mails and informed about the attack. that leads to the very important question why did they do nothing? why did they sit by for seven hours while this attack unfolded and take absolutely no action to protect our people? bill: i assume they're getting information out of cairo and what is going on at the same time. with regard to libya for the sake of this discussion, 6:07 p.m., two hours later just about this e-mail. embassy tripoli the group claimed responsibility on facebook and twitter. referring to ansar al-sharia and has called for an attack on embassy tripoli. i'm not arguing that you take the terrorists word for it but when you get something like this, there is a process to figure out whether or not the claim is legitimate or if it is just that, whether it's a claim. >> right.

and it is in fact the case that if you go back and you follow these claims of responsibility for terrorist attacks, particularly since the attack of 9/11 it is unusual for al qaeda-related groups to claim responsibility for attacks that they in fact are not involved in but at a minimum the white house knew they had claimed responsibility. so again there's absolutely no excuse or defense for the president to then spend the next 10 days telling the american people that this is because of a video. and i would also --. bill: actually went a little further than that. but you mentioned the president. here are two clips over the weeks that followed there. watch the time stamp now. this is what he said then. >> no acts of terror will ever shake the resolve of this great nation. alter that character or eclipse the light of the values that we stand for. that is what we saw play out in the last two weeks, as a crude and disgusting video sparked outrage throughout the muslim world.

now i have made it clear that the united states government had nothing to do with this video and i believe its message must be rejected by all who respect our common humanity. it is an insult not only to muslims but to america as well. bill: so the first is in the rose garden on september 12th with hillary clinton. the second was the u.n. speech here about, i believe nine or 10 days later. but it was 17 days until the administration laid blame on a specific militant group. >> right. bill: i cut you off. you were saying? >> they weren't out there saying we're trying to gather information, we don't have all the information. as you saw in the president's speech before the u.n., as you saw with u.n. ambassador rice, as you saw with secretary clinton frankly at an druce air force base when they were receiving the bodies of our dead americans they talked about the video and i think it's shameful they in fact were, looks like misleading the american people.

the other question i would like to see the president asked, mr. president, did you go to sleep that night while you knew that attack was underway? our embassy, our consulate was under attack. our ambassador was missing. did you go to bed without taking any action, without doing anything to prevent that attack, without doing anything to stop the attack or save those people? if so why did you wait seven hours. bill: hillary clinton when she came out the next day it looked to us she was very drawn out because of this. could be she was up all night. liz, knowing this, does it make more sense as to why governor romney did not go after libya the other night? in other words, keep it in obama's corner? does that explain this now or not? >> well, you know, i think that the issue here is president obama and we are in the middle obviously of a critically important election and there is an awful lot of coverage on the debate, as there should be, on the election that's coming up but i think it is

important to not divert attention from what is huge, huge story. that the potential that the president of the united states did absolutely nothing. we had a drone overhead watching this unfold. we could have had forces there from italy within one hour. the president did nothing. and then he misled the american people about it. it is a huge story. i hope the mead yeah will follow it and i hope the american people will remember it when they go into the polling places. bill: liz, thank you very much. martha: how about this? may all come down to one state and i bet you know what state that is, right? ohio. november the 6th, why the buckeye state is so key to both candidates. what are the voters there saying. we're live in columbus, plus this. >> we just saw them come to light in the last debate. with no out, with no outside bs. no biased media involved, no interruptions and no

political cad ads every five seconds and most importantly, no damn teleprompters. bill: we love that one. voters coming out for their candidates but do voters care? ♪ .

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bill: that deadly meningitis outbreak reaching a troubling milestone. cdc now confirms there are more than 300 cases in 17

different states. 23 people have died. back in the state of massachusetts it is moving to revoke the license that a lab has linked to the outbreak and add oversight to similar facilities in that case. >> our investigators documented several health and safety deficiencies related to the practice of pharmacy at necc. >> the farmsy board will immediately start periodic unannounced inspections of compounding pharmacies that prepare sterile, injectible medications such as those directly linked to the outbreak. bill: so officials say the lab at the center of this outbreak shipped contaminated shots before the tests came back whether or not they were sterile. martha: back to the campaign trail now, folks. you have got both presidential campaigns making a final push to lock down one of the most critical, if not the most critical swing state. take a look, ohio. 18 electoral votes up for

grabs. without it neither campaign has an easy path to victory. certainly a lot easier if you've got ohio in your corner. mike tobin is there, live in columbus for us this morning. how is it looking there, mike? >> reporter: martha, 800,000 ohioians cast a ballot in large part due to the badger of both campaigns. republicans alone contacted 6 million ohioians directly, two million face-tface. with data available they're able to do it with information and concerns specific to their household. with polls split in the single digits at their widest the ground game has never been as important and aggressive and detailed in the key battleground states of ohio. >> will you support mitt romney and paul ryan this coming fall? >> reporter: jeff johnson is part of a time that knocked 300,000 doors just this week,

with the possibility of efforts like his could decide the presidency. there is a lot of weight on your shoulders. >> a lot of weight. i put in 200 yard signs myself. >> reporter: the machine energized and defeated anti-union law championed by the republican governor. >> it is a huge ad voong. one of the things that isn't focused on by the national media because at the end of the day it was a state issue. >> reporter: through that, through the primary voting trend have been established. individual voters entered into databases and courted aggressively over the phone. >> do you know if charles will support mitt romney this year for president? >> reporter: through the mail and in person with detailed information about what that voter wants. >> there is no hiding under a rock. you have to be in a different universe if you haven't received some means of voter contact, whether it is a phone call, door knocking, ads. >> reporter: every voter in the buckeye state knows his or her votes counts. >> we're all very intensely

aware here, right? >> reporter: if you're one of the battleground states, you're tired of door knocking and tired of phone calls. there is way to make it stop. vote early. the tracking is so specific within a couple of days the campaigns learn you're a done deal and they will stop spending money to contact you. martha? martha: if you're not in one of those states where i live in new jersey, you have absolutely no idea whether anyone knows you're going to vote or not vote. mike, thank you very much. what a different tale from state to state. mike tobin. bill: "america's newsroom" will be live there on monday. we're going back to ohio, the third time in three months. we're taking hamilton county on, that is cincinnati, southwestern corner of the state. you will hear from voters and ohio newsmakers only days before the big vote. that is monday morning 9:00 a.m. eastern time. when you have here is eight days away, we'll be here live. governor john kasich will be with us. senator robb portman will be with us as well. they will be able to tell us whether or not romney can flip the state. whether or not he can take it from the president or whether or not they're still

behind at that point because those guys know the state better than everyone. martha: in ohio, oh, there is another campaign ad. they're saying oh, there is bill hemmer again. i can't get away from that guy. he is in every corner of ohio. bill: we thought we lost him years ago but he's back. concerns about voter fraud in a vital battleground state as well. hundreds of suspected registered voters not citizens of the country. we'll investigate. martha: that is a problem. it is the interview president obama does not for some reason want you to hear. a very influential newspaper in a swing state now asking the obama campaign can we please let the voters hear what you had to say to the editors at our paper? what is going on here? we've got fair and balanced debate coming up. send me a tweet @marthamaccallum. what do you think abouth story? one. two. three. my credit card rewards are easy to remember.

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president obama is telling eye wants if they want to hear him answer tough questions before election day they will have to hope for a rerun of "the view." so that sarcastic remark. you get the gist of it coming from the rne. "the des moines register" endorsed president obama in 2008. the white house is now saying there will be a gaggle shortly. we expect that any minute. they do expect this will come up at the gaggle. we will break in if we get anymore information on it. let's bring in our friend, tucker carlson, editor of "the daily caller" an fox news contributor. alan colmes, host of the alan colmes radio show and author of the book, thank the lib liberals for saving america. what do you say to this. >> i like to hear at the gaggle in terms of going to address it. in terms of transpair enaresy obama released bundlers, tax returns and white house logs. mitt romney has not been as transparent in general as a candidate. if the conservatives like tucker if they're upset about obama about this have

the same about the tax returns and bundlers that mitt romney is not addressed and he has not run a transparent campaign. martha: it is a interesting story and if you read what the editor had to say, tucker. we've been pursuing the president to try to get this interview with him. "the des moines register" is very well-regarded regional newspaper in this country, very influential. they tracked him down. the white house called yes you can talk to him tomorrow morn and it has to be off the record. romney's similar interview was on the record. they're scratching their heads at "the des moines register" sounds like. why would you knot let us release this, your thoughts? >> classic political control freak behavior every white house engages in. i was struck by the editor's response to it act more as a political consultant than journalist this would appeal to swing voters. is that really editor's role? this is in keeping despite the red i can the behavior of this administration, leaving aside alan's point about romney the truth is

the obama administration, this is checkable and factual put more documents off limits outside the scope of the freedom of information act by classifying them than the bush administration did which was the famously secretive administration. this administration has been more secretive. >> anyone know who romney's bundlers are? i wonder if obama said anything like 47% in this secret tape with "the des moines register"? i highly doubt that was the case. let's find out what they said. >> we don't know. martha: i want to get your thoughts on a couple other topics. the first one, alan is to you. that has to do with the pamphlet came out, what is your vision for a second term? where is america going? where is the country going? a lot of people feel like we haven't heard enough about this discussion. frankly, perhaps from either side. so the pamphlet seems to be answer to that for now. the word is there isn't anything new there. >> president has a 4-year record. mitt romney running a campaign, a seinfeld campaign, about nothing.

lack specialties at this. -- specificity. he a grid with president obama. martha: alan, answer my first question. are you satisfied with what your candidate has put forth as his vision, where he sees america going? we're in a tough situation here. >> yes, absolutely. martha: so you are. >> absolutely. satisfied, look. i like to do a lot more but satisfied in terms of economy coming back. satisfied in terms of how he handled foreign policy brought romney over to his point of view. satisfied in terms of how the stimulus helped and we continue to get positive economic indicators. yes i'm satisfied. we need to do more what we've been doing. you have got moody's projecting millions and millions of jobs over next four years based on current policy yes i'm satisfied. martha: what i want to get to here. ha, ha. >> i love how easily, i love how easily satisfied is. no wonder you're a happy person. >> you never satisfied with anything obama does, tucker. >> hilarious. i would say outlines

campaign are clear. abortion is good. rich people bad. he e-mailed voters and appeal to class envy. that is apparently the bulk of the pamphlet. rich people need to pay their fair share. >> 47% are bad to romney. >> you could take every dollar, every person in the top 1% owns, apply it to the federal deficit and it would make not a major difference. >> that is not the issue. one of many things. >> math is always an issue. martha: let me ask you one more thing before i let you guys go. issue of "romnesia" being the word that the president using on the campaign trail right now. some folks, alan looking back to lofty rhetoric of 2008 and big, big dreams that president obama had for the country frankly brought over a lot of independent voters as well and they're saying, is this what we've come to? a president who is talking about "romnesia" on the campaign trail? >> well, what it come to based on who his opponent is and somebody can't remember what he said even two seconds before.

in fact in the past debate romney said i'm not killing bad guys because killing people is not our policy. then he said i'm going to kill the bad guys. this guy can't say in two consecutive sentence what is he stands for. martha: quickly, tucker. wrapping me, very quick. >> you know "romnesia" is kind of amusing but pretty small for a guy who has been president four years. if that is the best you got, not much. martha: tucker very amused about everything today. that is good. chuckle. bye, guys. tucker, alan, see you soon. let's look what is going on in the markets right now. check out the big board after really rough day, down 200 plus. up 18 in early going. investors hoping better than expected reports coming out from boeing and facebook today. dow was down 243 yesterday. weak earnings reports pulling down the markets. we'll get back to you. bill: you bet we will, martha. we want to go to the maps up here. remember the 11 battleground states?

we have them marked in gray, all right? all across the country. these states will decide who gets four years, the president or mitt romney. if you watch the travel plans for both campaigns they will tell you an awful lot about where this campaign's headed. ed rollins will analyze that for us when we continue. martha? martha: all right. plus, remember this moment? the president got a lot of reaction for his horse and bayonets remark at the debate the other night but it could potentially backfire. the key bloc of voters who perhaps did not find it funny. >> i think there are an awful lot of people around the united states of america who would find the comments by the president to be both insulting and arrogant.

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that number again... and discover siemens eclipse hearing aids today. we're not in london, are we? no. why? apparently my debit card is. what? i know. don't worry, we have cancelled your old card. great. thank you. in addition to us monitoring your accounts for unusual activity, you could also set up free account alerts. okay. [ female announcer ] at wells fargo we're working around the clock to help protect your money and financial information. here's your temporary card. welcome back. how was london? [ female announcer ] wells fargo. together we'll go far. bill: welcome back everybody. 13 days on the calendar. ed rollins, fox news contributor, president reagan's election team of '84, veteran of many presidential bids. good morning.

want to have a little fun. >> you betcha. bill: we'll go to the board show you a map here. remind our viewers these are the 11 battleground states in gray that are too close to call. ed, what is the state of the race today? >> i think the president's team is on the defense and i think the romney team is on the offense and that's a very difficult place for an incumbent president to be. i think we're gaining in places like florida, virginia, north carolina, which are key states for us. ohio, the ultimate battle feed, rasmussen has i had dead-even. my sense is that, it's building and building and building for romney and i think he could have a victory that may even expand beyond the 270 electoral votes. bill: okay. that may involve, maybe a wisconsin, a pennsylvania, michigan, if the rumors are true. now listen, i want to go to results in 2008, okay? this is what president obama's doing over the next two days now. he will make stops in the following states. all states by the way that he won four years ago. he will be in iowa.

he will be in colorado, nevada and los angeles in california for jay leno. then he talks an overnight plane on air force one down to florida. then virginia. then goes to illinois to vote and ohio to end the day. eight states, two days. what does that mean? >> it means he could win two of them, illinois, california, everything else is is battling for. at the end of the day --. bill: is that positive, ed or is that desperation? how would you analyze it? >> i would analyze as desperation. at this point in time this is president who hoped to end on a positive note. now still trying to portray romney as someone he is not. he has very little to talk about on his own record. put the fancy mail piece out a pamphlet sending out here is my future plan. more of the same. he is mailing that to 3 1/2 million targeted voters. like a direct mail piece. ing into new, nothing specific. bill: could back to what if.

this is what mitt romney is doing, what if column, going back to 11 states up for grabs. he will in iowa, six electoral votes, nevada, six electoral votes. he would like to win both but have to win one based on pollings we're buying your scenario romney will blow him out. >> both states are in play. you could still win without it. if he wins florida, north carolina, virginia, ohio, he has to win something else. could be new hampshire. could be one of those states. my sense they're all in play. they're all very close to being even if not, romney having a slight edge. so why not? just keep pushing the envelope. bill: there is a "washington post" poll came out yesterday. showed voter enthusiasm on the republican side was 25 points higher now than it was four years ago. so we'll see how that plays out. here is a what if scenario for you, ed? there are rumors in pennsylvania that romney could put that in play. it hasn't voted, the state hasn't voted republican in 1988. here is the 270 you need,

right? president obama at 201. mitt romney at 191 on our map. if president obama wins pennsylvania, see how the numbers add up, if he wins ohio, you see numbers he picks up right now at 239? for governor romney, runs the south here with florida 29 and virginia at 15 and then, sorry, virginia 13 and north carolina at 15. he now is at 248. so you have one, two, three, four, five, six states in play. let's say nevada, to be economy poor out there. foreclosure rate is high. maybe mitt romney takes nevada. maybe also takes colorado. still doesn't get him there. he is at 263. now you see the importance of ohio. go ahead. >> ohio is ground zero. you need ohio. becomes very difficult for anybody, president included to put it together without ohio. ohio is bellwether state. whoever wins ohio in the last he will several decades won presidency. no republican ever won it

out in ohio. there we're dead-even in ohio. no reason we'll not win ohio. they have a great governor, gaffe kasich. my sense we'll do well. bill: ed, thank you. i clicked on wisconsin and michigan. it does not account for new hampshire which could put him at 269. that is enough. goes beyond that or even iowa, if you throw that in the mix you're at 271. you now see how the map fills in. ed rollins, thank you so much. >> thank you. bill: we'll be live monday in cincinnati, ohio, northwestern part of the state. we'll find ground game versus obama, which ground game has the edge. martha: it is all about the numbers at this point. thanks, guys. there are new concerns today about voter fraud in a key battleground state bill was talking about. what about colorado and what are they doing about a hundreds of people on the voter rolls who aren't really allowed to vote? how about this? some of hollywood's biggest names getting plenty of attention on the campaign trail. but do people care about

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bill: a bit of a turkey takeover causing a big stink weeks before thanksgiving. 100 wild turkeys making davis, california their home. have you ever seen these guys in the wild? number one complaint the folks have? waste from the birds. enjoy breakfast. wildlife experts say turkeys hanging around because folks keep feeding them. even though there is enough around for them to gobble up.

martha: let's move onto this now, much cleaner stuff. both campaigns are calling on some of hollywood's biggest names to bring major star power to the campaign trail. clint eastwood using one of the most famous lines from a talked about appearance at republican convention. watch. >> okay. you ought to make my day. all right. [cheers and applause] i'll start it. you finish it. go ahead, -- >> make my day!. martha: he is voicing over a big new campaign ad for mitt romney. and there's eva longoria. they called in the big guns at the democrat convention as well. just this week she apologized retweeting an anti-romney comment some people found offensive. what impact do hollywood stars really have on election? william la jeunesse knows all the people. he is in l.a. and joins us with this. good morning, william. >> reporter: martha, the question is are they important and how do they influence voters? now while most people will

not admit i voted for the president because barbra streisand told me so, celebrity money and fame can bring voters into the tent and help validate a voter's choice. >> vote. >> vote. >> vote for barack obama. >> reporter: do they matter? we watch their movies. listen to their music. >> my personal style is easy. >> reporter: take their advice and buy their products. but do celebrities influence voters? >> voters don't want to think that hollywood celebrities are telling them how to vote. they understand those people, their expertise is completely outside the political world. >> reporter: but that doesn't mean they're not valuable. >> people who do read a publication like "us weekly" probably aren't on political web sites. when they see pictures of these celebrities in these magazines, endorsing the presidential candidates, they definitely are paying attention more. >> let's hear it for paul ryan!. >> reporter: a kid rock appearance drives turnout

and generates media coverage. >> candidates try to surround themselves with people from outside the political world in order to enhance their own credibility. >> every president inherits challenges. >> reporter: which helps explain why the president asked morgan freeman to narrate this ad. and mitt romney recruited clint eastwood. while romney attracts his share of stars, the edge goes to obama with heavyweights like george clooney and jay-z and beyonce helping him raise $20 million. >> when you see celebrities come out for political events it definitely bring as different demo, a different group of people into politics. >> reporter: so today katy perry gives a free concert in vegas where young voters in the swing state will hear how great the president is. and a clint eastwood ad begins airing for governor romney. that is a important validation, martha, for many voters from this iconic actor. back to you. martha: william, we'll see if it matters or not. thank you very much. bill: from hollywood the

entertainment industry having a big impact on the obama team and its effort. took in $5.3 million from that sector of america. that is five times as much as romney team has. that is 41 of president obama's supporters bundle nearly 11 1/2 million dollars? since july 2011, president obama attended 36 hollywood fund-raisers. martha: all right. we have just getting some information coming out of the white house gaggle and apparently the word is that "the des moines register" interview will be put on the record. they have expressed a desire to put it on the record. we said that's fine. they will be posting it this morning. they're disputing claims how many back and forth there really was about asking to release the content of that interview "the des moines register" did with the president. all that over the big endorsement. it is about to come out. we'll look at it. let you know what is in

there. bill: governor romney going to a state to try to pluck it from the obama column? close your eyes. we'll take you there next [ woman ] ring. ring. progresso. i just finished a bowl of your new light chicken pot pie soup and it's so rich and creamy... is it really 100 calories? let me put you on webcan... ...lean roasted chicken... and a creamy broth mmm i can still see you. [ male announcer ] progresso. you gotta taste this soup. tomato, obviously. haha. there's more than that though, there's a kick to it. wahlalalalallala! smooth, but crisp. it's kind of like drinking a food that's a drink, or a drink that's a food, woooooh! [ male announcer ] taste it and describe the indescribable. could've had a v8.

martha: all right, on this wednesday, it's full speed ahead in the race for the white house. we have 13 days to go. candidates are crisscrossing the country, trying to make all of these moments count. that is how we spend it the second hour in "america's newsroom." i am martha maccallum. bill: and i am bill hemmer. president obama find from the east coast to the midwest to the west coast today, and then back again today. governor romney has a grueling schedule as well. both men will be in iowa and nevada within the next 24 hours for it governor romney holding an event in reno, nevada, a little bit later today.

martha: real clear politics has the president of the bit for mitt romney. six electoral votes up in the state of nevada. 270 is the magic number to win the white house. john roberts is traveling with the romney campaign. he is live this morning in reno, nevada. how are things looking there? reporter: good morning to you. setting up for an event today in the biggest little city in the world. very important county. president obama won it back in 2008. but if governor ronnie can flip washita county, that would be great. kid rock was the opening act just outside of denver. once again, the politics does make the event. focusing solely on domestic, accusing the president yesterday of not having anything that

resembles new ideas. >> the president status quo campaign as we have seen over the last four years is why he is slipping. it is why our campaign is gaining. it is why this movement is going across the country. bill: he was reaching out to governor ronnie was, reaching out to soft voters. martha: so what is he telling them when they are paying attention? reporter: he is talking about his agenda. yesterday he pulled out a 24 page glossy brochure. it is really repackaging everything that we have heard so far. no new ideas there. he tries to undercut governor romney, reminding people of his

shifting positions and telling him that he has forgot he said in the past. he calls it a severe case of what he calls rom-nesia. >> if you can't remember what he said last week, don't worry, obamacare covers pre-existing conditions. reporter: wouldn't you know, clint eastwood is back on the campaign. an american crossroads advertisement very similar to the one that ran in the super bowl, saying that the country cannot afford another four years of the obama administration. martha: it is a knockdown drag out fight. getting more interesting as we go along. reporter: 13 days ago. martha: hang in there, buddy. bill: the key swing states, six electoral votes, both men will be in nevada in the next 24 hours. nevada has a higher unemployment rate than the national average.

last month it was nearly 11.8%. the rate sixth nationally in foreclosure rates, and they have a gas price average of $3.89, compared to $3.63 across the country. there are also allegations of possible voter fraud. this time in the critical battleground state of colorado. nine electoral votes are up for grabs there. we are learning that the secretary of state is announcing a growing list of suspected, noncitizens on the voter rolls. eric is back on the story today. live in new york, what is happening in colorado, eric? reporter: you know you have to be an american citizen to vote for president. but in the state of colorado, officials are saying the more noncitizens have been found on the voter rolls. it has been a controversial issue nationwide. republican scott kessler has said that as many as 5000 noncitizens may have voted in his state in 2010.

now from his office is comparing the voter rolls there to the u.s. department of homeland security alien registration lists, and look at what they found. 441 suspected noncitizens on the rolls. of those, 232 unaffiliated with a political party. 163 are democrats, 37 republicans, and others enrolled in some minor parties. he can't estimate exactly how widespread this voting may be, but fox news has reviewed voter registration forms of people who are enrolled voters that are not american citizens. the ones we have looked at, well, they voluntarily stepped forward and have asked election officials to remove their names from the list. but just how many noncitizens in new york and elsewhere, so far they have not stepped forward to tell authorities. that number -- we just can't know it yet. critics say that kessler and

others, they try to disenfranchise voters in their efforts to identify noncitizens. kesslerand election officials say they are trying to protect the credibility of the nation's voting rolls. kessler started this whole process back in 2011. his office said they only recently granted him access to the home security was to verify the citizenship chip of people that are voting. and of course, if you suspect voter fraud where you live, voter fraud fox news.com. bill: thank you, eric. martha: here is some interesting information on colorado's voting role in the recent elections, in 2008, then senate -- senator obama won over john mccain. prior to the victory, colorado had gone republican in eight of the previous nine elections.

colorado has voted for the winner in the last seven elections. bill: fox news alert. we are getting amateur video into "america's newsroom" of new footage from syria. can seem you can hear the fierce battle playing out on the ground. there is a video the rebels clash with syrian military over a key city. a u.n. envoy announcing the syrian government and some rebel leaders have agreed to a temporary cease-fire during a four-day muslim holiday. a previous cease-fire collapsed within days, with both sides accusing the other of breaking the truce. martha: those scenes are incredible. also, big new questions and news that has been breaking over the security of the consulate in

benghazi, libya, where four americans were killed. we take a look at the stats and what military options could have been taken in real time that might have made a difference in those peoples people's lives at the white house. jennifer griffin joins me live on the pentagon. what did the military do, jennifer, to respond to what we now know was a flow of information in the initial hours as the attack began? >> well, martha, u.s. officials argued that without having a clear picture on the ground, it would have been a mistake to overreact. they did send a team of special operations forces to tripoli from benghazi. they sent marines from spain. they sent a special operations force. they moved it from central europe down to the airbase in southern italy. then they left f-16s and apache

helicopters parked in northern italy. they did not take off. two navy destroyers were moved off the coast of libya. here is former secretary of defense, assistant secretary of defense, then last. >> for the united states military to say that they were 480 miles away, and they couldn't do anything, and they couldn't move one aircraft in eight hours, i say it's time to release a lot of people in the chain of command. but i just don't believe that. reporter: the finding of the consulate was over within one hour, according to e-mails obtained by fox news. martha: one of the big questions that remains in all of this, jennifer, is tyrone woods and glen doherty. they were killed hours after all that began at that main building. they were in the annex about a half-mile away. what could have possibly been done while this was being watched in real time as we are now learning remapped. reporter: that is right, martha.

u.s. officials say a picture on the ground made the possibility of friendly fire in real possibility. those u.s. officials also say that they didn't necessarily have permission for overflight from the libyan government. >> if you were ambassador has been either killed or captured and is missing at the hands of terrorists, you do not ask any ambassador for a mother, may i? from anyone. we do it every day in pakistan. that is how we killed osama bin laden. reporter: glen doherty and tyrone woods, former navy seals. killed at 4:00 a.m. on the roof of the second building, the annex it was about a mile away. they were killed by mortar fire. we understand that the machine gun that they were using

suggested they continue fighting after they were injured. ex- military officials day that it seems that more could have been done to protect that second annex. martha: that is almost 12 hours after the very first shot of this? reporter: about seven hours. information that they were in a prolonged fight. i just feel that we will hear so much more about the story that led to the deaths of those two people. that one not going away. jennifer, thank you so much. bill: it will be interesting to see what happens when we peel away the onion. the story advances a little bit each week. the story that chat program had, our producer, shed some interesting light on the story. so the exchanges from the debate get a night happened right here. >> you mentioned the viewership so we had in 1916 and the navy. well, we also have fewer bayonets because the nature of our military has changed. bill: back, got some laughs in

the pressroom. but not everyone was amused. we will get reaction from the top republican on the house armed services committee. plus, there is this. >> [inaudible] he pulled out his weapon, his right hand, this, and palm -- he pointed his weapon at the other soldier and he started discharging his weapon in the building. martha: they saw exactly what happened and heard exactly what was said. the victims asking the government to call it a terrorist attack. so far, the government says no. why? we will talk to a man who was shot six times. bill: the story the story he has coming up next. in a community in mourning after a shark attack. >> goes to show you that you kind of have to have your things in order to kind of deal with

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bill: some of the beaches are closed in california after a deadly shark attack there. the victim's friend managed to pull him from the water, but there were no sharp warning signs posted at the time. but they are having sightings of sharks lately two is pretty well known locally that there are sharks and we have shark sightings up and down the santa barbara coastline. pretty frequently. bill: you heard him mention santa barbara. no word on the type of shark that killed the victim, francisco javier solorio. deadly shark attacks are rare. martha: republicans are seizing on what was arguably the most memorable, for president obama at the debate on monday night. >> you mentioned the navy, for

example. we have fewer chips than we did in 1916. well, governor, we also have fewer horses and bayonets because the nature of our military has changed. we have these things called aircraft carriers were planes went on them. we have bishops to go underwater, nuclear submarines. martha: that is quite a moment, and it did get some laughs from the audience in florida. former secretary of defense donald rumsfeld says the u.s. military is no joking matter. here he is with us on our show yesterday. >> the fact that the navy is shrinking is an important and serious subject that merited a thoughtful, serious, and important discussion. all it thought was a dismissive, arrogant answer from the president, by someone who has never served in the military. i found it really disappointing. martha: disappointing and donald rumsfeld's words. mac thornberry is the chairman of the house armed services committee. he joins us this morning.

great to have you here today. >> thank you. martha: what was your reaction by the comments from the president? >> he thought like he could defend his record by tom or bullying governor romney. usually when someone uses that tactic, whether it is on the playground or in politics, they are trying to cover something up. what he was covering up there with the fact that our navy has gone down to such low levels. it is just not -- with the navy at that level, we cannot defend the country as well as protect the peace. you know, he seemed to say that navy ships were obsolete as horses and the units. that is obviously not true. martha: there was another comment became prior to that by governor romney. it did not get as much attention, but it raises an interesting point. let's listen to that. i want to get your thoughts on it. >> we make decisions within the military that will confront challenges we can't imagine.

in the 2000 debates come there was no mention of terrorism, for instance. in a year later, 9/11 happened. we have to make decisions on uncertainty. martha: i'm struck by that. i watched a number of debates in history. in the past several months, rarely in these instances, do we talk about what actually turns out to be the threat. when a future president does take office. what did you think of governor romney's point there. >> i think it is an excellent point. there are trends that we can see that are a threat to the united states. terrorism is an example. but there are always things we cannot predict. but you have to have the capability to deal with the unknown. again, our ships today are more capable today than they were in 1916, of course, but they can be in more than one place at one time. if it's in the western pacific,

he can't be in the persian gulf. numbers do matter. capability does matter. that is the way you deal with the unknown is to have the capability around the world and defend our interests. martha: i want to get your thoughts on the back-and-forth sequestration. >> first of all, this cluster is not something that i proposed. it is something that congress has proposed for the budget we are talking about is not reducing our military spending. it is maintaining it. martha: is that your understanding of how all this work? >> no, it is absolutely not true. bob woodward bob woodward has said today that it is not true. this proposal for sequestration came from the administration. he says just ask the people in the administration. evidently, it is the law of the land. the president cannot say he has

done nothing over the last year to prevent sequestration from happening. we in the house have passed the bill to find savings in other places, the president has opposed to that. he is only trying to blackmail congress to raise taxes with the threat of sequestration. so i find it very insincere at best. martha: all right. thank you for your thoughts today. great to see you, congressman. bill: oh, hello. look at what i'm cooking up here. are you ready for this? all right, it takes 270 electoral votes to win the white house. mitt romney is a 269, president romney is a 269. he flat out even try. we will tell you more when we get back from the break. twenty-one minutes past the hour.

martha: welcome back everybody. it is now 25 minutes past the hour. the millennium bomber facing resentencing today in seattle, washington. he is the man convicted of trying to set off explosives at the lax international airport. on new year's eve in 1999. he was caught by a woman there who did excellent work on her part. an appeals court vacated his original 22 year sentence as too lenient. a new report showing the cost of public four-year universities is on the rise again. here we go, parents. up 4.8% this year. an average of about $8600. barnes & noble reported a breach in customer's credit card

information. the cards and credit cards have been hacked and 64 stores across the united states. many accounts have been compromised. bill: martha, i have your interest up on this 269 thing. the question is how you get there? this is a possibility. martha: that is out of it for us. it's a late life. bill: at the moment, we have 11 battleground states that are just too close to call. governor romney at 191 of 270, president obama 201 of 270. if you put this in governor romney's column, then you start to see the scenario developing where we could develop into,

martha, what you just said -- what is a very late night. also come the importance of ohio, especially to barack obama. the republican count is at 191. watch the numbers change. if he takes florida, it's 29 committee keeps takes more care like him he's 15. okay, so now he is at 248. the president is actual one. let's say he takes the traditionally democratic states. pennsylvania 20. giving president obama ohio's electoral bullets and transposes at 239. how are we going to balance this out and find this an area where we get to 69 electoral votes? in 2000 and in 2004, colorado went for george bush. give that governor romney. in 2000 and 2004, nevada went for george bush. but even with all of those states, and in the smack him he's only a 263, governor romney is, so let's come back to the president and see the scenario

for him. michigan has voted democratic for several decades. we will give the 16 votes electoral to him there. it was razor tight in the past. democrats won by .3 of the overall vote. the president is now up to 65 versus 263. what puts the president in 269? new hampshire. governor romney would have to win the only state left in our scenario on the map, and that is electoral votes in the state of iowa. that is how you get to 69 up to 269. based on the information on polling and polling data that we have, this is possible. martha: there have been folks who have been talking about the scenario for a couple of months. it could be possible. what happens then? if it is to 69 and 269, funky

stuff goes on. it was the house of representatives. whoever has the majority coming on the president. whoever has the majority in the senate within vote on the vice president. how about a romney and biden ticket. after all of this? [laughter] martha: i think somebody is going to sell the story on broadway. that's just me. thank you, bill. this story has been getting a lot of attention this week as well. for attack victims are trying to get the massacre declared a terrorist attack. >> and has been nearly three years since the shooting. why should it be declared a terrorist attack? >> because that's exactly what it is. martha: simple words simply spoken. so much weight in those words. in moments, we will talk to the man you just saw and look at why the pentagon is saying now. plus, something about to happen on an american highway for the very first time. what it is and why some people are very worried about this.

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bill: families are trying to get the attack classified as a

terrorist attack inside of violence. the pentagon is saying that it does not want to make the change by the accused gunman is facing a court-martial. and survivors are eligible for the same medical benefits is any service member. what about all of this? kelly stinson served as secretary of defense under george w. bush. he is a senior legal fellow with the heritage foundation. >> good morning, bill. bill: where do you stand on this? >> there is ongoing litigation, you can certainly feel for the surgeons and others who were injured in this attack. whether you think it should be characterized as a terrorist attack or a workplace violence -- it is legally all relevant right now. you don't want to insert legal uncertainty in a capital case, while the cases going on, because it could create an appellate issue and you want to

try this ace once and once only. bill: so you're okay with a workplace violence classification than? >> i didn't say that. what i said is they don't want to inject legal uncertainty in a capital case. we have less than 50 cases in the military justice system capital wise, and we have a high conviction rate. you want to try a case and do it well. by changing it, it could be classified as unlawful command. bill: okay, i see. you are arguing not to change the classification right now. bill: >> that is right. he said at this time from it is not appropriate. i take that as him saying after the trial is over -- bill: you have these victims that are living with her wounds for the rest of their lives for their families and friends, it has changed their lives forever. coming back to the original point in november of 2009, won a workplace shooting in the first place?

>> well, catherine herridge his book should be read by everybody, your colleague. she has done some really good reporting on this issue. you can make up your mind as to whether the contact with the shooter should classify him as a terrorist or domestic terrorists. but now is not the time to change the classification. because it would upset, potentially, and inject legal uncertainty. bill: that is a hard thing for these victims to understand. they are really going through a very tough time. they feel the way they feel because they think the government has now filed for them. they don't have their backs on us. >> i'm sure that the americans and the majority of americans feel exactly the same way.

everyone gets that. i think there will come a time when the court-martial decides there needs to be hearings in the and they can really press this claim and apply political pressure. bill: in 2012, who knows how long this trial could be postponed. or once a gets going, how long it will last. >> that is right. reporter:. bill: you could be five years down the road from the moment that the shooter was shouting and left them killed. >> it leaves a foul taste in their mouth. bill: they make the argument that the eligibility for medical leave or assistance is no different now than it would be have been classified as terrorism. is that the case? where are these people getting ripped off right now? >> look, you have to divide this very family. they are military members -- former military members who were let out on disability.

it will be entitled to the same benefits anybody else would've in terms of medical benefits. going to the doctor, getting free care. that is part of their package to sign up for the military. in terms of collateral benefits, i think that their claims are valid. i think with respect to the request for purple hearts or other metals, that will need to be delayed because of the first one in which is the legal uncertainty discussed. bill: kelly stinson, thank you so much for coming in on this. i want to bring in a sergeant that was shot six times that day. he is with me by telephone. good morning to you, certain. >> good morning. bill: we were just talking about the classifications. legally, it is a difficult thing to do right now. how does that make you feel? >> how so? >> to change it to an act of terrorism. >> well, i disagree with that. all the taxes that are supporting it say it is what it

is. even with our service training, we were in uniform. how could it not be a terrorist act? bill: i know this is little compensation to you, sergeant. but the point that progress was making is that in the middle of a legal proceeding, to reclassify it would perhaps senator kyl will do for direction. even folks like you would not be happy with it. i know that does not make you feel much better. do you believe when you are on the floor there was no question about what you heard of november 2009. what was that? >> [inaudible] so who is the victim?

who are victims? we have to ask that. bill: when the classify this as workplace violence, what did you and the others who survived this think about that? >> i was appalled. i looked up the definition for workplace violence, and this is definitely not workplace violence. all the other things that came behind it. [inaudible] bill: do think your government has your back? is the pentagon have your back? does the military and the army enact. >> it all depends upon what department you are talking about. i am not going to say the whole army as a whole has her back.

i'm not going to say that the government has her back as a whole. the policies are put in place. bill: sergeant, i hope you get justice. alonzo lunsford, shot six times in 2009 speak to the white house is not responding to our top story about a series of internal state department e-mails. those that have been obtained by fox news. they revealed that the white house was told that terrorists were likely behind the terror attack in gaza. we are going to have the details on this later. >> also, what sparked this morning house fire? >> i woke up this morning to the thunder and lightning and i thought it was cool. then i got out here and ik harda thought oh, this is not cool ate all. it is a miserable. ommitted to putting clients first. helping generations through tough times. good times. never taking a bailout. there when you need them.

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bill: 's mild weather in minnesota. powerful storms dumping heavy

rain and plenty of lightning. one of those lightning strikes hitting near minneapolis, sparking a massive fire. neighboring fire departments had to be called in to fight the flames. >> we had about 6 inches total in the garage. when i opened the garage door, you could see something all over the place. bill: everyone inside was able to get out. but the houses in for major repairs. martha: here is the very latest on us for the white house is not responding to this set of e-mails that has been obtained by fox news. it shows that the state department alerted staffers at the white house and the pentagon that the u.s. consulate was under attack by terrorists. it's tough to the fox news national security analyst. obviously, this is a bombshell that came out late yesterday. it was an e-mail that went out to a lot of people. some of who are difficult to decipher and others who are crossed off on this e-mail. now, we are hearing from jay

carney who has come out. and he is basically saying that he has a circular statement that suggests that still does not change. they have no reason be confident so that he and others can know about this. >> we still don't know why. why there was no security provided. why during the course of the attack, no rescue efforts were made. why after attack, no retaliation efforts were made. you have to ask why. are they this incompetent? it is criminal negligence. i did this incompetent, or is there something else going on? i think that the wise because their policy on terrorism and the war on terror being over, al qaeda is on its heels, their policy is a failure and they don't want to admit it be to you know, let's take a look at jay carney's statement on

september 18. we will do this in order. this is what he said then. let's watch. >> some information, the initial information, and that includes our information -- we saw no evidence to back up claims by others that this was a pre-planned will be meditated attack. we saw evidence that it was sparked by the reaction to this, and that is what we know this far. martha: here is what he is saying now. jay carney on the benghazi e-mails. he says the e-mail you are referring to is an open-source, unclassified e-mail that was her into an assertion that was made on a social media site that everyone in this room had access to and about instantaneously. it was a variety of information is coming in. the whole point of an intelligence community and what they do to assess information and make judgments about what happens. yes, we saw that. we did not really feel like i

was accurate or that was indicative of what really happened. >> well, martha, it is either incompetence to the term of negligence or they are lying. i would like to see them take a lie detector test. when jay carney says this is based on intelligence and information -- this is all the information we have -- no, it's not. you are now seeing e-mails and cables coming out from whistleblowers throughout the intelligence committee, the state department, defense department, and the white house. they cannot cover this up forever. as you said, there are dozens -- hundreds of people that have access to this information. to say that nobody from the state department on the phone and sent to the white house -- we have a problem, houston. our people are getting killed. it is inconceivable. martha: is liz cheney mentioned a while ago, she said according to the president's schedule, there was a high-level meeting with defense department heads during this period of time. she found it impossible that would not have been part of that

discussion. that consulate in benghazi was attacked on the whereabouts of of our ambassador was unknown. reporter: again, it defies imagination than two months later, we still don't have these answers from the american public is still in the dark. this administration is still clinging to the fairytale that al qaeda is finished. al qaeda is now in 30 countries. it threatens us throughout the region. americans abroad, and potentially americans at home. yet from the war on terror is over. al qaeda is finished. i'm not buying it. martha: k.t. mcfarland, thank you so much. bill: jon scott with an update on "happening now" coming up next. reporter: the polls are getting even tighter. the razor thin race is now

anyone's game. plus, we will continue the discussion that martha was just having on these new developments in the murder of our diplomat in libya. fox news has obtained e-mails suggesting an al qaeda linked group was claiming responsibility for the attack within moments of them. catherine herridge, jennifer griffin, and several other guests on what the administration knew and when they knew it, what it all means is coming up. bill: all right, thank you so much. it is opening day for the nation's fastest speed limit. where it is and how fast you can drive. it is a lot higher than 55 miles per hour. ♪ [music playing] ♪

bill: there is an american stretch of highway today where you can drive 85 miles per hour, and it is legal. some argue it is not smart. but casey siegal is live in mustang ridge, texas, near austin, texas. how do they reach 85? why the number? reporter: everything is bigger in texas. why are for speed limits going to be the fastest? in all seriousness, the state department settled on 85 miles per hour for the new toll road. because it is a brand-new, wide open stretch of road. 41 miles, to be exact, between two very busy cities, austin and san antonio. the current choice is interstate 35 to get to and from there. it is very congested and the speed limits are not that high. so now, state highway 130 runs parallel to interstate 35 and it will cut the two-hour drive in

half. >> we feel like this is a good deal for the state of texas. getting a brand-new, world-class highway at no cost to taxpayers, and we will be providing congestion leads to those on the i-35 quarter. reporter: this was built by a private company and it will be paid for by the whole revenue. it will cost a little bit more than $6 one-way, to make the drive, and a lot of people say money well spent when you're going to cut the drivetime in half. bill: there are concerns about safety. what are you hearing about that? >> yes, there are. utah and texas are the only two states that have speed limits of 80 miles per hour on some roads. when this open later this afternoon, it will be the fastest in the country. higher speed limits are attributed to higher numbers of fatal accidents per the group tells us that some 13,000 people die each year in speed related

crashes. they fear that the number will go up, especially if other states follow texas is sued. listen. >> it is fast. the concern is that this made spread to other places. legislators in other states may hear about it and not know the details and realized that it is a relatively small, limited road. and they want to increase that speed in their states as well. reporter: texas as their data shows the opposite. when they see speed limits go up, the number of crashes go down. time will tell. bill: it is a whole new flux capacitor happening now. reporter: i want to get up there later. martha: stunning developments in the wake of the terror attack in libya. e-mails that have been obtained by fox news, shedding new light on what the obama administration new. virtually as it was playing out in terms of who had already

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